Pandya dynasty

The Pandyas ruled from Madurai for close to two thousand years, longer than almost any house in the world. Megasthenes and Ashoka knew them; they broke the Kalabhras in the 6th century, lost Madurai to the Cholas in the 10th, and under Jatavarman Sundara Pandya in the 13th century became the strongest power in the south.

01Sangam Madurai

Megasthenes heard of a southern kingdom called Pandaia ruled by a queen, daughter of Herakles, rich in pearls. Ashoka names the Pandyas among his free neighbours. Their emblem was the fish, and their pearl fisheries off Korkai were famous in Rome. Tamil tradition, set down in the commentary on Iraiyanar’s Akapporul, says three Sangams of poets sat under Pandya patronage, the last at Madurai. Of the kings in the poems, Nedunjeliyan won at Talaiyalanganam against the Chera, the Chola and five chiefs, and Mankudi Marudanar’s Maduraikkanchi describes his city’s markets by day and night. Palyagasalai Mudukudumi Peruvaludi was named for the many yajnas he performed.

02The first Pandya empire

The Velvikudi copper plates tell how a village granted by Mudukudumi Peruvaludi was seized by the Kalabhras, and how Kadungon, late in the 6th century, drove the Kalabhras out and restored the Pandya kingdom. Arikesari Maravarman, the Kun Pandyan of the Shaiva hymns, followed the Jain path until Thirugnana Sambandar, called by his queen Mangayarkkarasi, cured his fever at Madurai; he became the Nayanar Ninraseer Nedumaran. The kingdom fought the Pallavas for two centuries. Srimara Srivallabha sacked Anuradhapura in Lanka, but Varaguna II lost to a Pallava-Ganga-Chola alliance at Sripurambiyam about 885, and in about 915 Parantaka Chola took Madurai. Maravarman Rajasimha II fled to Lanka leaving his crown there.

Evidence · Earliest sample dated 580 BCE (2019 report); excavated 2015 onwardsKeezhadi excavationsA brick-built town on the Vaigai with ring wells, drains and potsherds scratched with Tamil-Brahmi names.Read →

03The second empire

As Chola power weakened, the Pandyas came back. Maravarman Sundara Pandya I burned Thanjavur and Uraiyur in the early 13th century. Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I (1251–1268) defeated the Hoysalas, the Kadava chief Kopperunjinga and the Kakatiya Ganapati, and performed a virabhisheka at Nellore; he covered the vimana at Chidambaram with gold and gave lavishly at Srirangam, earning the name Ponveinda Perumal, the king who roofed with gold. Under Maravarman Kulashekhara I (1268–1310) Marco Polo visited the Pandya coast, which he called Maabar, and wrote of its pearl fishery and its trade in Arabian horses.

041311 and the Tenkasi Pandyas

Kulashekhara’s death in 1310 set his sons Sundara Pandya and Vira Pandya at war. In 1311 Malik Kafur, general of Alauddin Khalji, marched into the Pandya country, sacked Madurai and carried away its treasure, as Amir Khusrau records. In 1335 a Sultanate was set up at Madurai; Kumara Kampana of Vijayanagara ended it in 1378, and his queen Gangadevi wrote the campaign as the Madhura Vijayam. The Pandyas survived as a lesser line in the Tamraparni country. At Tenkasi, Parakrama Pandya raised the Kasi Vishwanathar temple in the 15th century, and Ativirarama Pandya, poet of the Tamil Naidatham, ruled in the late 16th.

Place · Twin Pandya-era temples, extended by the Madurai NayakasIrattai Tirupati, ThirutholaivillimangalamTwo temples side by side counted as one Divya Desam: Devapiran and Aravindalochanar. The name comes from a balance (tula) and a bow (vil) that a sage turned up with his plough.Read →

The rulers

1Palyagasalai Mudukudumi PeruvaludiPerformer of many yajnasSangam age
2Nedunjeliyan of TalaiyalanganamHero of the MaduraikkanchiSangam age
3KadungonEnded Kalabhra rulec. 590–620 CE
4Maravarman Avanishulamanic. 620–645 CE
5Seliyan Sendanc. 645–670 CE
6Arikesari Maravarman (Ninraseer Nedumaran)Turned to Shiva through Sambandar; a Nayanarc. 670–700 CE
7Kochadaiyan Ranadhirac. 700–730 CE
8Maravarman Rajasimha Ic. 730–765 CE
9Jatila Parantaka Nedunjadaiyan (Varaguna I)Issued the Velvikudi platesc. 765–815 CE
10Srimara SrivallabhaSacked Anuradhapurac. 815–862 CE
11Varaguna IIDefeated at Sripurambiyamc. 862–880 CE
12Maravarman Rajasimha IILost Madurai to Parantaka Cholac. 900–920 CE
13Jatavarman Kulashekhara IBegan the Pandya revivalc. 1190–1216 CE
14Maravarman Sundara Pandya IBurned Thanjavurc. 1216–1238 CE
15Jatavarman Sundara Pandya IGold roof at Chidambaram; strongest king of the south1251–1268 CE
16Maravarman Kulashekhara IMarco Polo visited his coast1268–1310 CE
17Parakrama PandyaBuilt the Kasi Vishwanathar temple, Tenkasi15th century CE
18Ativirarama PandyaPoet of the Tamil Naidathamlate 16th century CE